Moscow court denies appeal filed by Raoul Wallenberg’s family

A judge in Moscow has ruled to deny an appeal filed by Raoul Wallenberg’s family, which asked to see prison records that could shed light on the Swedish diplomat’s death. The Federal Security Service has refused several times to grant the family access.

On Tuesday, a Moscow court upheld a decision by the Federal Security Service (FSB) not to release prison records linked to Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. Wallenberg’s family asked the court to force the FSB to declassify the records, which could shed light on the diplomat’s death after his arrest in 1945.

Wallenberg saved the lives of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust by issuing them Swedish passports and identification papers. He was arrested in Budapest, where he worked at the Swedish embassy, after the Soviet troops invaded the capital. It is believed that he died of heart failure two years later in a KGB prison in Moscow, where he was being held on espionage charges. However, his family is demanding the records to discover exactly what happened to him and the circumstances of his death.

The family requested access to the files from the FSB, the successor of the KGB, several times over the years. Each request was denied, which led the family to sue the security service last year. In September, a lower Moscow court rejected the family’s lawsuit, which prompted the family to appeal the decision.

Wallenberg is often called the “Swedish Schindler.” Last year, Sweden formally declared the diplomat dead but his family, who never received his remains, is still searching for answers.